Reflections of Shattered Glass
by SykoBeevr
Summary: Picking up the pieces is always the hardest job. Putting them back together? You wish.
1. Prelude

The _Bebop_ floated through empty space in the vast area over Mars. It had been several weeks since Spike had died on planet, but Jet still hadn't had the heart to pick up and move on quite yet. Every time Jet or Faye looked down on the red planet, its color reminded them of their friend's blood. Only recently had they really learned anything significant about his past, and just as suddenly he was taken away from them. Neither could quite believe what had happened. Even the normally oblivious Edward and Ein were more subdued than usual.

A loud crash resounded through the ship from the hangar, breaking the silence. "_FAYE!"_ Jet's bellow woke the seemingly young woman from a restless sleep. Grumbling quietly as she rose, Faye worked her way into the rotating section of the ship and from there to the small bay which held a red, one-man ship and a rather angry Jet. 

"What is it now?" Faye asked irritably.

"I can't fix this damn thing totally by myself you know. Spike and I had a hard enough time keeping it in shape as it is. Helping out a little couldn't kill you."

Faye looked at her annoyed partner. _Partner? When did I start thinking of him like that?_ She knew his leg still bothered him from when he'd been shot by a Syndicate hit man shortly before Spike's death. _Still, no way he's getting off that easy. _"It was your idea to bring Spike's ship back aboard, so that makes it your responsibility…"

"Damn it Faye, I—"

"Where do you want me to start?" she asked, picking up a random tool as she walked toward the ship, knowing it was the wrong one for the weapon systems repairs Jet was making.

"—Huh?" His confused expression was priceless. They needed a little banter to keep their minds off of things, and they both knew it. Finally a smile broke through. "Recalibrate the targeting system, I think it's a little off. It'd be easiest from the cockpit."

"Sure thing, partner."

***

After the death of Vicious, and partially due to the attention brought on by the amount of destruction Spike had brought along on his final visit to Mars, the Syndicate quickly splintered into several rival groups. Each of the groups was led by individuals who felt they had the right to succeed Vicious as the organization's new leadership. In mere weeks what amounted to an interplanetary gang war erupted. What had been a strong, ruthless criminal force had degenerated into a shattered entity battling with itself and destroying everything and everyone that dared interfere. 

A man known only as Mr. Nokugawa stood in a large office overlooking one of Mars' smaller cities. He was planning, scheming, and deciding what to do next in his bid for control of the Syndicate. He was already in control of one of the most powerful factions, and he was slowly laying plans to solidify his power.

Nokugawa was an aging man of oriental descent, much like the late Mao Yenrai. The only difference was that he would never let his guard down like Yenrai had. He knew he was up against people who could be just as ruthless as Vicious, the man who killed Yenrai. He would never let them slip past his defenses. 

"Mr. Nokugawa," his aide said from behind him, there is a Mr. Rigel Krait to see you, sir."

"I don't know the name. What does he want?"

"He wants to speak with you about a possible alliance with one of the other factions."

_An alliance? That is certainly odd. Who could he be representing? _After a brief internal debate, he decided to see what Mr. Krait had to offer. "Let him in. And then leave me with him, this could involve sensitive information. I will call for you if necessary."

"Of course, sir." 

The aide opened the door and exited, closing it behind him. Still facing away from the door, Nokugawa barely heard Krait's footsteps as he approached the large wooden desk. "Mr. Nokugawa, I presume?" The quiet, almost whisper of a voice was hauntingly familiar. Almost nervously Nokugawa turned to see the slim, pale face and long white hair of a man dressed all in black. The man's features barely registered before Nokugawa felt himself almost starting to faint.

"Vicious…"

***

Jet lay on the small couch that was frequented by all aboard the _Bebop_, trying to sleep after finishing repairs on the _Swordfish II_, but not doing a very good job of it. Edward came bounding into the room, chasing a playful Ein. The young hacker girl babbled some more of the totally nonsense phrases Jet had come to expect from her while the Corgi barked and panted. After making several circuits around the cramped room, Ein jumped up onto Jets lap. 

"Ein, no!" Jet shouted but too late to avoid Edward landing on him as well, and the two jumping back off almost in unison. "Ed," Jet groaned, "Didn't Faye want to see you about doing her toenails or something?"

"Don't know," she smiled back before running off again after the dog.

"Why me—" The _Bebop _was rocked by an explosion. "_Faye what the hell are you…_waitasec, that was outside. _Faye, move it!"_

Jet sprinted to the cockpit, hoping that the ship would hold up until he got there. Once set in place, he opened a comm link to the _Redtail _Faye's personal ship, ready to yell at her again if she was not there already.

"What's up?" she asked before he could say anything.

"Not sure. Some idiot just blasted us with a low-grade missile. We're lucky it wasn't any stronger or we'd have been gone by now. Just get out there and get him off my tail."

"Figures I get the hard work."

Faye's ship blasted away from the _Bebop_, and headed toward the enemy. "Whoa hold on, that looks like police!"

"What?!"

As if on cue, the ship contacted Jet. "Jet Black and Faye Valentine, surrender yourselves now or we will have no choice but to use deadly force."

"What the hell?" he heard Faye shout, "We're bounty hunters, not criminals. What are you after us for."

"Just following orders ma'am." With that, the cop opened fire on her. She threw her ship into a downward turn, barely avoiding the shots.

When Jet thought the situation could not get more confusing, he got a call from an old police contact. "What the hell's going on?!" he yelled at the cop while trying to draw fire away from Faye. 

"Jet, we just got word that a police ship was stolen. Word is it was one of the Syndicate factions, and we think they might be after you."

"You couldn't have told me this five minutes ago? Faye, that's not a cop, it's a Syndicate thug."

"Bastards, now it makes sense. Alright, he's mine." As suddenly as she could manage, she threw her ship into a one-eighty and attacked the phony-cop head on. She weaved through the rain of fire, keeping her trigger depressed all the while. A shot just barely missed her cockpit, and then she was practically on top of the assassin. She slipped to the right and swung around, firing as she went. She was right on target, blowing out the other ship's engines. To be careful, she fired a few disabling rounds into her opponent's weapons.

"Alright, now we get some answers." Faye maneuvered her ship so that she could look directly into the other's cockpit. "Okay guy, what…"

"Faye, what's up?"

"He's dead Jet. Shot himself," she had the sudden unshakable feeling that something was very wrong, even more so than the assassin would imply. "Jet, what the hell's going on?"


	2. Pickin' Up the Tempo

"Vicious?" Krait could not help laughing. "You wish." Rigel Krait decided he liked Nokugawa. The aging man was amusing. "Vicious was a dangerous man, certainly, but I'm nothing like him."

Nokugawa sighed with relief. "That's good. The resemblance is so uncanny, you had me extremely worried for a moment."

"I'm terribly sorry."

"Quite alright. Now then, my aide told me you wanted to talk about an alliance with my faction. Who are you representing?"

"Myself."

"Really? I have not heard of you before, even when the Syndicate was whole."

"That's to be expected. Honestly, only one or two people knew of me."

"So what is it exactly that you're after?"

Krait walked around the desk so that he was on the same side as Nokugawa, and put a hand on the older man's shoulder before looking out the window. "Gary…" he started in an almost parental tone.

"Gary? How did you know—"

Krait slapped him across the face. "Shut up when I'm talking! I hate being interrupted. Anyway, I was about to answer your question. What do I want? The Syndicate needs unity; it needs leadership. I'm going to provide that. I am going to reunite the factions of the Syndicate and from the pieces create an organization that will not only dominate the criminal element in the system, but the police, the governments, everything! Simply: I want control."

"You're crazy, Krait!" Nokugawa's voice shook along with the rest of his body. "Nobody can unite the factions, certainly not you."

"Why not me?" Rigel turned to face the other and glared at him, causing the faction boss to cringe. "You were going to try to take control, and you were a petty hireling."

"Me, petty?!" Nokugawa straightened in an attempt to seem powerful and intimidating. "You never even existed in the Syndicate before now, and you call me petty?"

"Gary, Gary. Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. I was being groomed for just this occasion. I was meant to be here now. I was trained by the Syndicate's best agent, but in things even he would not dare attempt in his position."

"Oh, and who was this great and might agent?"

"My brother."

"Who would be?"

Krait simply stared at Nokugawa, as if to say "Look at my face, moron."

"Oh God…" Nokugawa once again shrunk away. With speed that would not be expected from an old man, he jumped across the desk, knocking over a picture frame and lamp, then ran to the door screaming his aide's name. The assistant opened the door just in time to hear Krait fire a gun and see the back of Nokugawa's head explode in a spray of blood. The faction boss's look of horrified surprise burned itself into the young man's memory. For a moment, he could only stare at the body and Krait.

"Here catch," Rigel said as he tossed what looked like a small black ball to the aide. He smiled and ducked behind the desk. The aide caught the ball purely by instinct and by the time he realized he was holding a grenade, he was blown apart by the focused blast. 

Rigel climbed into the large leather chair behind the desk and sat back, smiling. When a security team arrived to see what the commotion was about, they quickly raised their weapons and one ordered him to give up peacefully. 

"Boys, can't you see the situation here. Old man Nokugawa is dead. I'm in charge now. Is that alright with everyone?" His tone was mild, almost cheerful, but his gaze was somewhere between empty and icy. The team knew they were not dealing with a mentally stable man. 

"Yes sir, perfectly fine sir," the leader said crisply, "Good to have made your acquaintance sir. If there is anything you need, give us a call."

"Thank you captain. I'll keep that in mind. Go spread the word of the power change, and execute any who protest."

"Right away sir!"

"Oh and get someone to clean up the mess and put in a new door."

"Yes sir!"

As the guards left to go about their new duties, Krait turned the chair to look out the massive windows. His gaze panned the red surface of Mars and the smallish city that had risen up in this area. He would have to change things, move his influence underground—literally if necessary—so that he could better ensure his safety and the safety of his plans. 

"You trained me, brother. I won't let you down. I'll finish Spike's friends, reunite the Syndicate, and do what you would have if you were still alive. Only difference is…I won't hold back anything…"

***

"That him?"

"No."

"Him?"

"No."

"This one?"

"No. Jet, I don't know. I don't think we're going to find him in here."

"Come on, Faye, this list is all of the Syndicate thugs we know of." For the past several hours, Jet and Faye had been searching the _Bebop_'s database for the man Faye had fought earlier. Finally, they decided to ask Ed for help. Faye seemed insistent that they were not going to find the dead man in any list of people working for the Syndicate, and so simply described him to Edward and set her to a general search for any information on him anywhere. 

Ed had been at it for nearly an hour when she finally seemed to have found something. "Uh-oh…"

"What is it?" Faye asked impatiently.

"Police files."

Jet leaned forward to look. "Criminal records you mean?" 

"Nope, nope, nope. Paycheck!"

"Wait, you mean he _is_ a cop?" Faye could not hide her surprise.

"Uh-huh, yep."

"But then why would your friend say it was a syndicate guy, Jet?"

"I don't know. I'm gonna see if I can get in touch with him." Jet went over to the console at the other end of the room, and tried to contact his friend. Instead he got a young man, Caucasian, who looked like a first-day rookie. "Where's Jim Stekes?"

"Who are you?"

"My name's Jet Black, I'm a bounty hunter, a friend of Jim's."

"Oh, ok. He was suspended just a little while ago."

"What?"

"Yeah, him and a bunch of other guys apparently had a little in-department drug ring going."

"Jim would never do something like that."

"Well believe what you want, but he's gone. Might try his home if he hasn't been sent to a cell yet."

"Thanks, kid." Jet tried Jim's home but came up with nothing. "I don't like this," he said to Faye.

"What do you want to do?"

"I'm going down there to check up on him."

"Be careful, Jet. Something is very wrong."

"Don't worry about me. Just keep the ship intact while I'm gone, ok?" Jet quickly made his way to his own ship, the _Hammerhead_ before Faye could retort. On the way into Mars' atmosphere, Jet started feeling sick. Whatever was going on, it was bad news on a scale he had never dealt with before. Looking down on the surface of Mars as he descended, he could not help thinking of Spike again. _Spike…_did this have anything to do with him? Maybe some Syndicate remnant wanting revenge on Spike's comrades? Whatever it was, he was getting closer to an answer the closer he got to Jim's home. 

The cop lived in a large grey apartment building, in one of the planet's larger cities. Finally, he came to a hover just across the street and above the building, and started looking for a good landing spot. Before he could decide, an explosion rocked the building, blowing out the windows on every level before demolishing the walls as well. The entire thing collapsed in a matter of moments. 

"Oh hell." Spirits low, he contacted Faye.

"What's up Jet?"

"You're not going to like this. Jim's apartment building just blew up. And I'll bet all of the suspended officers were inside."

"You can't be serious."

"Afraid I am."

"Man, something big must have changed in the Syndicate. There's no way they would have done something like that before."

"I know. I…I'll get back to you." Jet cut the connection as he saw a ship rising from the other side of the building. _Got to be them._ He set off after them, praying he wasn't making a mistake.


End file.
